Issue Campaigns

Join one of our teams--read the descriptions of our campaigns below and if you're intrigued and inspired, join one of our issue teams. Issue teams are made up of dedicated, local leaders who meet monthly for 90 minutes to advance goals of creating long-lasting change.

Tell your story--UVIP has trained dozens of Listeners throughout the region to interview community members and capture stories of life in our region. The stories remain confidential, but the data that emerges from the stories support the change goals of our issue teams as well as create impact in local organizations and institutions.

Immigration Support Network

Immigration Support Network

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

Due to new federal policies, immigrants without documents living quietly among us are now in mortal fear of deportation by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Our immigration work in New Hampshire is statewide in scope. We work closely with the Manchester-based Granite State Organizing Project and the Concord-based American Friends Service Committee to build statewide power.

what we're doing about it:

Immigrant Support Network -- We are organizing local clusters of faith communities, which, working together can provide support in many forms for immigrant families at risk, up to and including physical sanctuary. Other forms of support include financial assistance, food, childcare, family support, legal assistance, and more.

Accompaniment -- We are organizing to accompany immigrants without documents when they must report to ICE for periodic check-ins. Prayer vigils are held outside ICE every time immigrants must report.

Know Your Rights Training – We are working with the ACLU to educate both immigrants and non-immigrants on the rights that immigrants – even without documents – have when confronted by ICE agents.

Rapid Response -- We are organizing to rapidly deploy people to sites of ICE raids on homes or workplaces, to stand as observers and reporters of their deeds.

Aging with Dignity

Aging with Dignity

For two years, UVIP asked seniors in our local community “What does it mean to age with dignity?” We talked to over 400 seniors and heard a variety of answers. While we’ve heard many moving stories of neighbors helping neighbors, we’ve also heard too many stories of seniors in trouble.

Here's what we are doing about it:

We built a team of 50+ listeners who gathered 153 additional stories. Our volunteers helped to record these senior stories and ReThink Health is working to glean the stories for their quantifiable information so that we can help to create best practices within local healthcare systems and senior services.

One of the needs that came out of our conversations with seniors was a need for self-advocacy. Our "Useful Tools for Aging with Dignity" curriculum was birthed to meet that need.

The “Useful Tools for Aging with Dignity” curriculum was developed by UVIP’s Aging in Community Team – “a program developed BY seniors FOR seniors”. It is designed to provide tools for seniors to organize their affairs, plan for medical issues, and stay connected to their communities.

The curriculum involves 5 sessions of 90 minutes each, conducted in groups of 8 to 16 seniors, caregivers, and other family members. The group dynamic is critical to building trust and sharing, and has been very well received by the seniors in pilot tests to date. The 5 sessions include:

Session I: Introduction & Team Building

Session II: A Checklist of Resources to Aid Life Care Planning: “How can I organize all the information about myself that people need to know to handle my affairs when I can no longer handle them myself?”

Session III: Calendar of Season Living: “How can I make the most of my senior years, having the most fun I can and staying connected to the people I care most about?”

Session IV: Honoring Care Decisions: “What do I fear about preparing the end-of-life documents that I need to have in place?”

Season V: Wrap-up Session

*If you're interested in becoming a facilitator or participating in a session, please contact Deb Dworak at deb.dworak@comcast.net

We always welcome new team members. If you would like to join our team, we meet monthly for 90 minutes on the third Tuesday of the month at Valley Terrace, 2820 Christian St, White River Junction, VT 2:00PM - 3:30PM.

Economic Justice

Economic Justice

UVIP has been fighting predatory lending for years. It became clear after our last attempt to set a 36% APR rate cap in NH that the lobbyists have too much power in Concord, so we set our sights on Washington, D.C.! We are a part of a national campaign to curb malicious lending practices through regulation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). We also recognize that bad lending practices are not the only system prohibiting people from thriving and so we are also mobilizing around issues aimed at creating real economic security for working families. We are spearheading a campaign in New Hampshire to pass legislation to improve the lives of temp workers and increase the MINIMUM WAGE!

We all internalize shame about not making enough money, accumulating debt, being one small accident away from unraveling financial stability. By sharing our stories we build solidarity across our community and acknowledge the systems that hold us all back from thriving.

UVIP has a team dedicated to bringing about a more equitable local, state, and national community. Team members meet monthly to strategize ways to leverage people power for change! Team members work in collaboration with other leaders across New Hampshire, Vermont, and the nation to bring about real, long-lasting change. All are welcome to join the team, we meet for 90 minutes once a month on the last Wednesday of the month.